This invention relates generally to calendars, particularly to a calendar for use by a woman to record and predict periodic health events.
Prior inventors have developed a wide variety of annual calendars and perpetual calendars intended as records or reminders. Some have been directed to the field of health care. However, none, to my knowledge, has been particularly designed to assist a woman with recording and predicting multiple periodic events such as ovulation, menstruation, premenstrual syndrome (PMS) and to provide reminders for, and records of, other health-related events, such as breast self-examination, mammograms and pap smears.
Health maintenance and disease prevention are every woman's responsibility, as is her responsibility for birth control and conception. The need for women to better understand themselves physically, psychologically and emotionally are important aspects of leading a healthy and productive life.
In 1989 alone, it was predicted that 43,000 women would die in this country of breast cancer, and another 142,900 women (175,000 in 1991) would be newly diagnosed. Studies have shown that only 30% of women regularly perform breast self-examination.
Uterine cancer and endometrial cancer are the cause of about 10,000 deaths per year in this country. In 1989, there were an estimated 13,000 new cases of cervical cancer and 39,000 new cases of endometrial cancer. In the past 40 years, the pap test has reduced the mortality rate for uterine cancer by 70%. Therefore, it is recommended that women should have an annual pap smear from the time they are eighteen years old. Additionally, women over the age of forty should have an annual pelvic exam to rule out ovarian cancer from which, in 1989, there were an estimated 12,000 deaths and 20,000 newly diagnosed cases.
From the foregoing, it is apparent that many deaths, unwanted pregnancies and various health problems can be avoided by a woman's being aware of the chronology of her cyclic events, by conducting periodic self-examination, and by maintaining a detailed health record of periodic events.